Questions to ask a fintech SEO agency before you hire

The best questions to ask a fintech SEO agency test three things: whether they understand financial promotion rules, whether they can build trust signals for Google’s “your money or your life” standards, and whether they can get your brand named in AI answers. An agency that can’t answer those clearly will cost you time with compliance and rankings that don’t last.

Fintech is one of the hardest places to do SEO. Google holds financial content to a higher standard, your compliance team signs off every claim, and comparison sites take many of the top spots. A generalist agency can write a good blog post. It usually can’t write one your compliance team will approve in a day.

So the hiring conversation matters. Below are the questions we’d ask if we were in your seat, what a good answer sounds like, and what should worry you.

Questions about regulated content

Start here, because this is where most agencies fall down. Financial content in the UK has to be clear, fair and not misleading, and anything that invites someone to take up a financial product can count as a financial promotion. We’ve written about how an agency should handle FCA rules in fintech SEO in more detail.

1. How do you work with our compliance team? A good answer includes a set review step, a log of approved claims and wording, and timings built into the content plan. A bad answer is “we’ll send it over when it’s done”.
2. Which of our pages would you treat as financial promotions? They should be able to tell a product page from an educational guide and know which needs risk wording.
3. Who writes the content, and what do they know about finance? Ask for samples on regulated topics, not lifestyle blogs.
4. How do you keep rates, fees and figures current? Out of date numbers are a compliance risk and a trust problem. Look for a review schedule tied to your product changes.

Questions about trust and YMYL

Google treats money topics as YMYL pages, where poor information could hurt someone. That means it looks harder for proof of expertise and trust.

1. How will you show expertise on our pages? Expect talk of named authors with real credentials, reviewers from your team, clear sourcing and visible regulatory details. Our guide to what E-E-A-T means covers the basics.
2. What would you change on our about, team and regulatory pages? These pages carry a lot of weight in finance. An agency that ignores them is only looking at blog traffic.
3. How do you earn links and mentions in finance? Good answers involve data, commentary for trade and national press, and partnerships. Bought links in finance are a fast way to lose rankings.

Questions about AI search

More buyers now ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google’s AI Overviews which app, lender or platform to use. If your agency only talks about Google rankings, you’re hiring for last year.

1. Do we show up when people ask AI tools about our category? They should have checked before the pitch, or offer to.
2. How would you get us cited in AI answers? Look for answer-first content, structured data, consistent facts across the web and third-party mentions. Our AI SEO service is built around those.
3. How will you report AI visibility? They should name a method, such as tracking a fixed set of prompts each month.

Questions about competition and strategy

1. Where can we realistically win against comparison sites? A good agency will be honest that some head terms are out of reach for a while and point you at long-tail, product and use case searches you can own.
2. Which keywords bring customers, not just visitors? Ask how they pick keywords by intent and how they’ll tie them to sign-ups or demo requests.
3. What does the first 90 days look like? You want a plan with technical fixes, a handful of priority pages and early wins, not a vague “content strategy”.

Questions about reporting and results

1. What will you report every month? Rankings and traffic are fine. Leads, sign-ups and pipeline are what matter. Compare their answer with what a good SEO agency report should show.
2. Can we see fintech or regulated clients you’ve worked with? Case studies in finance, insurance or other regulated sectors are a strong sign.
3. What happens if results stall? A good agency has a review point and explains what it would change.

Answers that should worry you

Some answers are a reason to walk away. Watch for guaranteed rankings, link packages, no mention of compliance until you raise it, and reports that only show traffic. Our list of red flags when hiring an SEO agency covers more of these.

How to run the hiring process

Shortlist two or three agencies with regulated sector experience. Send them the same brief, with your products, compliance process and goals. Ask each to come back with the questions above answered, plus a short audit of your site and your AI visibility. Then bring your compliance lead into the final meeting. The way an agency handles their questions tells you more than any pitch deck.

If you’d like to put us through that test, our fintech SEO agency team is happy to. Book a free strategy session and bring your hardest questions.

Related reading: our guides to how fintech brands win high-intent search traffic and in-house SEO or an agency.

Common questions